Spokane will hold Race for the Cure

In addition to Bloomsday, another running announcement was made Tuesday:

Spokane will begin hosting a Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in 2006.

The 5-kilometer race will be held April 30, 2006 – the weekend before next year’s Bloomsday. It will be an official qualifying race for runners vying for a second seeding in the 12-kilometer run.

“It’s really a good primer for Bloomsday,” said Cory Yost, chairman of that race.

The Eastern Washington affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation will organize the event. It raises money to help men and women from the nine counties in Eastern Washington prevent or fight cancer, Yost said.

Last year, the 2-year-old affiliation distributed $40,000, some of which paid for mammograms for low-income women. Breast cancer was detected in its early stages in several of those women, Yost said.

“We’re seeing results already,” he said.

Yost expects 5,000 to 10,000 participants in next year’s race and hopes to grow that to 25,000 to 30,000 in the coming years. Coeur d’Alene’s annual Race for the Cure will continue to be held each September, he said.

Yost said he doesn’t think Race for the Cure will draw participants away from Bloomsday. For one, the two races have very different distances. Plus, the spirit of Race for the Cure is one of celebration for cancer survivors, which is a different mood than what happens at Bloomsday.